The last few games you beat and rate them 5

[Frankie Spankie]

Dodgeball Academia - 7.5/10

This is a fun RPG focused around dodgeball for game play. It starts off rather slow but after the first hour or so it picks up. The conversations with NPCs were pretty fun and had a lot of cheesy jokes that got a chuckle out of me. The aesthetic style and music were also top notch.

The game play focuses around fantasy with dodge ball. You get ultimate moves and there are different kinds of dodge balls that can shock, freeze, burn, etc opponents. It's never overly difficult but the game play is still fun. I finished the story in probably 12 hours while doing all the side content as well. It took about 20 minutes to wrap up the remaining achievements if you're into that kind of thing.

The game is surprisingly really fun. I enjoy these fun RPGs that don't take themselves seriously and this is a solid one.

 

[JaegerDice]

Is it worth going into a Yakuza game like the seventh instalment if I never played any of the other six?

Start with Yakuza 0, then you can play any of them with a pretty solid foundation for the world/characters.

 

[SimGrindcore]

Played Life Is Strange 1 and 2 over the weekend.

Not my kind of games usually (like the Telltale games) but the writing is amazing. They nailed the teenage vibe in both games, especially with the music. The supernatural side is nice too. The 2nd game does not continue the 1st game story but they are set in the same universe and are linked in someway. Like the ending on the 1st game will affect the 2nd.

These games are like playing interactive TV series where your choices have consequences in the story.

I rate them a solid 8.5/10 and recommend them if you wanna chill and play slow paced games.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Gotham Knights - 7.5/10

Spinoff? sort of, of the Arkham Batman games, only this time starring Robin, Batgirl, Red Hood, and NightWing in place of the Batman. It was decent, though not quite up to par with the Arkham games, I found myself using Red Hood the whole time, maybe they could have just had you locked into specific heroes for certain missions instead of giving a choice. Felt like they overdid it a little with the side stuff too

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Start with Yakuza 0, then you can play any of them with a pretty solid foundation for the world/characters.

Like a Dragon is also a new story with a new protagonist. Kasuga f***ing rocks so hard.

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Yep

Like a Dragon is also a new story with a new protagonist. Kasuga f***ing rocks so hard.

Agreed. Probably depends on whether the person wants turn based RPG or an action game. I, personally, would recommend Like a Dragon first. It's sooooo good.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Sniper Elite V - 6/10

This is probably the worst Sniper Elite since Sniper Elite V2. The main problem with V2 was how often they forced you into close quarters combat. This one is ambitious but they ultimately fell short.

The sniping is solid, it's been the same pretty much the whole series. The X-Ray mode is still fun to take a long distance shot, track the bullet, and watch as it kills an enemy, dealing damage to whatever organ you hit. The maps are quite large but the game really forces you to try to sneak instead of snipe.

There are enemies practically everywhere and they hear everything. There aren't many levels with loud noises that can muffle your shots and everything you do is incredibly loud. Enemies hear you moving unless you move at a snail's pace but you can't always move very slowly because you'll get spotted by enemies that can see a long range. The worst part of the sound is there are times enemies shouldn't be able to hear you but still can. For example, there are vehicle patrols in certain maps. If you run 50 feet behind a loud motorcycle, the person on the motorcycle will stop because they hear you. For a game that focuses on ambient sound to muffle your actions, how do you not have that affect a loud motorcycle muffling your footsteps of all things?

The stealth can just be very frustrating and you feel forced to do it. There are certain areas where you can't crawl or you can't crouch and the game doesn't stop you from moving into those areas, it just forces you to stand up. The problem is now you're suddenly running when you expect to be crouch walking and everyone near you hears you, giving away your position. This particularly happened when I had to go under a bridge to disarm bombs. I had to reload my save multiple times because I would step in just the wrong spot, forcing me to stand and alerting all nearby guards.

Furthermore, there are a lot of areas you think you can vault over but you can't. You'll take your time and the risk of moving through an open area to move towards some cover, with the plan to vault over some sand bags and flank the enemy, to find that you can't vault over these particular sandbags. It happens a lot and there are a lot of these small walls blocking paths you want to take.

Since there are so many enemies practically everywhere, taking a shot with your sniper rifle will alert most guards and one of them will surely run to an alarm where you'll be left outnumbered and forced to reload your last save. The sniping is fun but you constantly feel punished for doing it and feel forced to move around, silently taking out guards with melee whenever possible.

This is definitely not one of the better Sniper Elite games. Go play a different one. Hopefully if and when they make Sniper Elite 6, they'll go back more towards what made 3 & 4 feel so fun.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Yep

Agreed. Probably depends on whether the person wants turn based RPG or an action game. I, personally, would recommend Like a Dragon first. It's sooooo good.

I don't think RGG gets enough credit for how big of a risk they took making such a hard turn from a more established beat em up type gameplay into JRPG land...and pretty much sticking the landing. Also a win win for both sides of the playerbase since the beat em ups will presumably live on through the vein of the Judgement series.

Keeping a lot of the guts of the franchise definitely went a long way with the goofy sidestories, surprisingly deep/addicting sidequests like the god damn Ichiban Holdings story that took 10 hours of my time and i was like yes please. Even some of the old combat mechanics remain like being able to pick up a bike and beat the shit out of somebody with it as long as you're in its path.

Same for the protag. Kiyru has been the lead for 8 games between 0-6 and now Man Who Erased His Name and is beloved by fans for being an actually mutlifaceted/complexly written character. That's not an easy call to replace him with goofy ass, peak anime 'muh power of friendship!", possibly schizoid Ichiban and also having that land.

I tried Yakuza 0 during the pandemic via gamepass, it didn't really land for me. Few months later this dropped, i saw it and with my days at work cut down because off COVID still i was like "shit i haven't played a JRPG in ages" and what i got was a sudden love for the series and a reminder that i actually liked JRPGs a lot after the eventual extinction of the Mario RPG side series. i have played all the way up to 4 and this is easily now one of my favorite series of all time. So god damn ready for infinite wealth.

I would agree you could actually play LAD first. Some of the "oh shit" moments towards the end of the game won't quite land like when both Majima and Kiyru show up but even then this is a mostly new story with new characters so it won't detract too much imo.

 

[Blitzkrug]

For the last 6 months or so i've kinda made it a goal to see what the hell Final Fantasy is all about. It's a series i never really came into contact with. I missed what a lot of people consider the absolute peak (IV-VII) due to being a wee lad (i was 3 when VII launched in America) and then by time i got older and started leaving the grasp of Nintendo at about 13 or 14, a lot of people would consider this when the series declined (post X/X-2) and never really recovered.

So i figured the best place to start was with the pixel remaster collection and i figured i'd break down my thoughts in point form;

FF1: Enjoyed this a lot! I think what helped this game is the fact it was a very simple concept for its time and that usually tends to age best. Outside of a few headscratchers (you mean i have to...talk to NPCs to figure out where the hell to go? This was fun, compact experience. I apparently picked what people consider the baby mode party (Monk/Warrior/Black and White Mages) but nonetheless, great. Got the platinum trophy and the only real complaint is the final fight with Garland/Chaos seems to be a bit...RNG-ish. If he casts Haste too early into the battle, you're screwed. But from what i understand that boss being cracked out is a pixel remaster only problem.

FF2: This game is absolute buns and i can understand why it took them forever to do an NA release. My favorite part about how whack this game's leveling/progression works is the part where you get no credit if you kill enemies too fast. I'm sorry, is the point of a JRPG not at least partly learning how to clear out enemies as efficiently as possible? Story is alright with someone seemingly dying every 30 to 60 minutes.

FF3: Enjoyed it! first exposure to the job system and i loved the idea of being able to cater your party to whatever you needed at any time. Only complaint is i don't like how some of the boss fights required a certain job. Like the one where you need scholar to use its weakness. Final dungeon was apparently pure nightmare fuel in the older releases but that's been rectified with being able to save on the fly

FF4: Probably my hottest take here but 4 did nothing for me. Could care less about Leon and his story and all the constant switching of guest party members.

FF5: Loved it! Story is a more goofy/lighthearted tale but inject this game's job system right into my veins. Peak customizability given you can mix and match everything to your heart's content. Exdeath might be the most intimidating but also goofy villian in this franchise given one of his plots to win is to...turn into a splinter and get himself stuck on one of the heroes feet so he can get to the guardian tree?

FF6: 6 is one of those games you hear endless praise about to the point you wonder "it can't be that good right?" Turns out, yeah it actually is that good. Phenomenal story that touches on some surprisingly heavy themes (the bit with Celes after the floating continent is surprisingly dark, was not expecting that at all.) for what was an SNES game originally. Kefka is an amazing antagonist just for his simplicity. He's not that deep. He's just the pure, unfiltered manifestation of chaos. No rhyme or reason to it, he just wants to destroy shit. And in a rare case...he actually wins.

Soundtrack is phenominal, doubly so with the orchestral arrangements. Zozo, the Phantom Train, taking the opera house scene and spinning it into Celes's theme going forward is an amazing touch, the World of Ruin overworld theme, Looking for Friends, Dancing Mad. Fantastic

Even the party system, while not inherently being a job customization system (which i'm sure you can tell i love) still kinda works like that since each of the characters have their own specific niche? Locke is a Thief, Sabin is a monk, Stravo is a Blue Mage, Gau is akin to a Beastmaster kinda. Setzer is probably my favorite character given his whole thing is "degenerate gambler is mad he can no longer gamble like a degenerate" for the first part of the game (also the thought of destroying an all powerful god with comically overpowered dice is funny)

Story wise i think my favorite thing is the implications around Zozo. When you first stumble on it, Zozo is an absolute hellhole complete with liars, thugs and a dude passed out in the middle of town with no one seemingly bothering to care. Kefka gets his way, completely breaks the world and Zozo...is somehow the exact same hellhole. Even Kefka's like "nope, not touching it"

 

[Jovavic]

Yea, first time through FF6 as a kid was nuts, getting to the floating island with like 40 hour play time, you think beating Kefka there is the end of the game. Until, you know, you play it, the game flips what you think is going to happen and after watching the destruction of the world you find out you're only halfway through the game.

The newest Dragon Quest has the same story beat so it was cool to see another game use it.

 

[Andrei79]

For the last 6 months or so i've kinda made it a goal to see what the hell Final Fantasy is all about. It's a series i never really came into contact with. I missed what a lot of people consider the absolute peak (IV-VII) due to being a wee lad (i was 3 when VII launched in America) and then by time i got older and started leaving the grasp of Nintendo at about 13 or 14, a lot of people would consider this when the series declined (post X/X-2) and never really recovered.

So i figured the best place to start was with the pixel remaster collection and i figured i'd break down my thoughts in point form;

FF1: Enjoyed this a lot! I think what helped this game is the fact it was a very simple concept for its time and that usually tends to age best. Outside of a few headscratchers (you mean i have to...talk to NPCs to figure out where the hell to go? This was fun, compact experience. I apparently picked what people consider the baby mode party (Monk/Warrior/Black and White Mages) but nonetheless, great. Got the platinum trophy and the only real complaint is the final fight with Garland/Chaos seems to be a bit...RNG-ish. If he casts Haste too early into the battle, you're screwed. But from what i understand that boss being cracked out is a pixel remaster only problem.

FF2: This game is absolute buns and i can understand why it took them forever to do an NA release. My favorite part about how whack this game's leveling/progression works is the part where you get no credit if you kill enemies too fast. I'm sorry, is the point of a JRPG not at least partly learning how to clear out enemies as efficiently as possible? Story is alright with someone seemingly dying every 30 to 60 minutes.

FF3: Enjoyed it! first exposure to the job system and i loved the idea of being able to cater your party to whatever you needed at any time. Only complaint is i don't like how some of the boss fights required a certain job. Like the one where you need scholar to use its weakness. Final dungeon was apparently pure nightmare fuel in the older releases but that's been rectified with being able to save on the fly

FF4: Probably my hottest take here but 4 did nothing for me. Could care less about Leon and his story and all the constant switching of guest party members.

FF5: Loved it! Story is a more goofy/lighthearted tale but inject this game's job system right into my veins. Peak customizability given you can mix and match everything to your heart's content. Exdeath might be the most intimidating but also goofy villian in this franchise given one of his plots to win is to...turn into a splinter and get himself stuck on one of the heroes feet so he can get to the guardian tree?

FF6: 6 is one of those games you hear endless praise about to the point you wonder "it can't be that good right?" Turns out, yeah it actually is that good. Phenomenal story that touches on some surprisingly heavy themes (the bit with Celes after the floating continent is surprisingly dark, was not expecting that at all.) for what was an SNES game originally. Kefka is an amazing antagonist just for his simplicity. He's not that deep. He's just the pure, unfiltered manifestation of chaos. No rhyme or reason to it, he just wants to destroy shit. And in a rare case...he actually wins.

Soundtrack is phenominal, doubly so with the orchestral arrangements. Zozo, the Phantom Train, taking the opera house scene and spinning it into Celes's theme going forward is an amazing touch, the World of Ruin overworld theme, Looking for Friends, Dancing Mad. Fantastic

Even the party system, while not inherently being a job customization system (which i'm sure you can tell i love) still kinda works like that since each of the characters have their own specific niche? Locke is a Thief, Sabin is a monk, Stravo is a Blue Mage, Gau is akin to a Beastmaster kinda. Setzer is probably my favorite character given his whole thing is "degenerate gambler is mad he can no longer gamble like a degenerate" for the first part of the game (also the thought of destroying an all powerful god with comically overpowered dice is funny)

Story wise i think my favorite thing is the implications around Zozo. When you first stumble on it, Zozo is an absolute hellhole complete with liars, thugs and a dude passed out in the middle of town with no one seemingly bothering to care. Kefka gets his way, completely breaks the world and Zozo...is somehow the exact same hellhole. Even Kefka's like "nope, not touching it"

Yeah, the game deals with suicide, bereavement, abandonment, multiple genocides and ethnical cleansing, dead beat dad's, depression, trauma, etc. It was amazing.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Yeah, the game deals with suicide, bereavement, abandonment, multiple genocides and ethnical cleansing, dead beat dad's, depression, trauma, etc. It was amazing.

And most of those themes tie back to the major characters as some type of conflict they battle throughout the story which i think helps the narrative tremendously.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

For the last 6 months or so i've kinda made it a goal to see what the hell Final Fantasy is all about. It's a series i never really came into contact with. I missed what a lot of people consider the absolute peak (IV-VII) due to being a wee lad (i was 3 when VII launched in America) and then by time i got older and started leaving the grasp of Nintendo at about 13 or 14, a lot of people would consider this when the series declined (post X/X-2) and never really recovered.

Excellent commentary here man. Glad you’re diving in and experiencing the franchise this long past it’s hey day.

Are you going to be moving on to the PS1 era games after this?

 

[Blitzkrug]

Excellent commentary here man. Glad you’re diving in and experiencing the franchise this long past it’s hey day.

Are you going to be moving on to the PS1 era games after this?

Already got them bought and downloaded on XBOX. good timing too since they all just went on sale.

I have the entire mainline series in my possession now.

PS5: 1-VI, VII remake, XVI

Xbox: original VII-XIII trilogy, XV.

Probably will take a bit since hammering through the first 6 in a relatively short window caused a bit of a burnout. Especially as the last couple games got longer.

 

[GreytWun]

For the last 6 months or so i've kinda made it a goal to see what the hell Final Fantasy is all about. It's a series i never really came into contact with. I missed what a lot of people consider the absolute peak (IV-VII) due to being a wee lad (i was 3 when VII launched in America) and then by time i got older and started leaving the grasp of Nintendo at about 13 or 14, a lot of people would consider this when the series declined (post X/X-2) and never really recovered.

So i figured the best place to start was with the pixel remaster collection and i figured i'd break down my thoughts in point form;

FF1: Enjoyed this a lot! I think what helped this game is the fact it was a very simple concept for its time and that usually tends to age best. Outside of a few headscratchers (you mean i have to...talk to NPCs to figure out where the hell to go? This was fun, compact experience. I apparently picked what people consider the baby mode party (Monk/Warrior/Black and White Mages) but nonetheless, great. Got the platinum trophy and the only real complaint is the final fight with Garland/Chaos seems to be a bit...RNG-ish. If he casts Haste too early into the battle, you're screwed. But from what i understand that boss being cracked out is a pixel remaster only problem.

FF2: This game is absolute buns and i can understand why it took them forever to do an NA release. My favorite part about how whack this game's leveling/progression works is the part where you get no credit if you kill enemies too fast. I'm sorry, is the point of a JRPG not at least partly learning how to clear out enemies as efficiently as possible? Story is alright with someone seemingly dying every 30 to 60 minutes.

FF3: Enjoyed it! first exposure to the job system and i loved the idea of being able to cater your party to whatever you needed at any time. Only complaint is i don't like how some of the boss fights required a certain job. Like the one where you need scholar to use its weakness. Final dungeon was apparently pure nightmare fuel in the older releases but that's been rectified with being able to save on the fly

FF4: Probably my hottest take here but 4 did nothing for me. Could care less about Leon and his story and all the constant switching of guest party members.

FF5: Loved it! Story is a more goofy/lighthearted tale but inject this game's job system right into my veins. Peak customizability given you can mix and match everything to your heart's content. Exdeath might be the most intimidating but also goofy villian in this franchise given one of his plots to win is to...turn into a splinter and get himself stuck on one of the heroes feet so he can get to the guardian tree?

FF6: 6 is one of those games you hear endless praise about to the point you wonder "it can't be that good right?" Turns out, yeah it actually is that good. Phenomenal story that touches on some surprisingly heavy themes (the bit with Celes after the floating continent is surprisingly dark, was not expecting that at all.) for what was an SNES game originally. Kefka is an amazing antagonist just for his simplicity. He's not that deep. He's just the pure, unfiltered manifestation of chaos. No rhyme or reason to it, he just wants to destroy shit. And in a rare case...he actually wins.

Soundtrack is phenominal, doubly so with the orchestral arrangements. Zozo, the Phantom Train, taking the opera house scene and spinning it into Celes's theme going forward is an amazing touch, the World of Ruin overworld theme, Looking for Friends, Dancing Mad. Fantastic

Even the party system, while not inherently being a job customization system (which i'm sure you can tell i love) still kinda works like that since each of the characters have their own specific niche? Locke is a Thief, Sabin is a monk, Stravo is a Blue Mage, Gau is akin to a Beastmaster kinda. Setzer is probably my favorite character given his whole thing is "degenerate gambler is mad he can no longer gamble like a degenerate" for the first part of the game (also the thought of destroying an all powerful god with comically overpowered dice is funny)

Story wise i think my favorite thing is the implications around Zozo. When you first stumble on it, Zozo is an absolute hellhole complete with liars, thugs and a dude passed out in the middle of town with no one seemingly bothering to care. Kefka gets his way, completely breaks the world and Zozo...is somehow the exact same hellhole. Even Kefka's like "nope, not touching it"

FF6 is a timeless classic. I remember as a kid going to blockbuster to rent it, always hoping I would get the same cartridge and no one erased my game. If they did I would just start a new one up and try to plow through it before it had to go back in 3 days. Never got close to beating it while renting it lol.

I go back to it every couple years.

 

[Tw1ster]

Just finished Divinity Original Sin II after 115 hours. What a grind. Great game but man did I ever suck at it. Each big fight took multiple tries just to get my strategy down. The last boss battle was complete bullshit as well but I got through it. I rate my experience as a solid 8.5/10 more so due to my incompetent skill level

 

[flyersnorth]

Just finished Divinity Original Sin II after 115 hours. What a grind. Great game but man did I ever suck at it. Each big fight took multiple tries just to get my strategy down. The last boss battle was complete bullshit as well but I got through it. I rate my experience as a solid 8.5/10 more so due to my incompetent skill level

I played co-op with a friend and used the mod that allowed us to have a six person party, and we each controlled three characters. That way we could experience all of the origin characters and their story in one go-round.

It does lose a bit of focus at times, but man, what a ride.

Going through BG3 right now, and love it so far. Larian just knows how to make compelling RPGs.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Already got them bought and downloaded on XBOX. good timing too since they all just went on sale.

I have the entire mainline series in my possession now.

PS5: 1-VI, VII remake, XVI

Xbox: original VII-XIII trilogy, XV.

Probably will take a bit since hammering through the first 6 in a relatively short window caused a bit of a burnout. Especially as the last couple games got longer.

Awesome, looking forward to seeinig how you like them. I'm playing through FF8 right now myself.

 

[Tw1ster]

I played co-op with a friend and used the mod that allowed us to have a six person party, and we each controlled three characters. That way we could experience all of the origin characters and their story in one go-round.

It does lose a bit of focus at times, but man, what a ride.

Going through BG3 right now, and love it so far. Larian just knows how to make compelling RPGs.

I actually started my play through doing split screen co-op with my non-gamer girlfriend. Took about an hour before realizing it was going to be too hard for her so I continued on myself. I spent a lot of time learning the builds as I went and I’m confident subsewuent playthroughs would be a lot smoother. All in all a great time and I look forward to playing Baldur’s Gate III, just gotta play a couple different style games first to break it up a bit

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Jusant - 8.5/10

Nice little game where all you really do is climb and read some stories of people. Very chill, but the climbing mechanics are fun. Not super long, which was a plus.

 

[shakes the clown]

Dead Cells - 9/10

Finally got around to playing it and was sucked in for about 2-3 months solid. Only cleared it one time on first difficulty, never cleared it on second difficulty. Eventually gave up and moved on to new game.

Only reason I didn't give it a perfect score is I felt that once you got to the second difficulty 80% of the gear was useless and underpowered.


Overall though, great game. Not quite as good as Hades IMO, but both are amazing and glad I decided to give this genre a try for the first time.

last 5 games I completed:

Dead Cells - 9/10
Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom - 11/10
Resident Evil 4 remake - 10/10
God of War Ragnarok - 9/10
Hades - 10/10


Needless to say, I've played some great games in the past couple years.

 

[Andrei79]

Dead Cells - 9/10

Finally got around to playing it and was sucked in for about 2-3 months solid. Only cleared it one time on first difficulty, never cleared it on second difficulty. Eventually gave up and moved on to new game.

Only reason I didn't give it a perfect score is I felt that once you got to the second difficulty 80% of the gear was useless and underpowered.


Overall though, great game. Not quite as good as Hades IMO, but both are amazing and glad I decided to give this genre a try for the first time.

last 5 games I completed:

Dead Cells - 9/10
Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom - 11/10
Resident Evil 4 remake - 10/10
God of War Ragnarok - 9/10
Hades - 10/10


Needless to say, I've played some great games in the past couple years.

Just curiously, did you play Dead Cells due to its availability with Netflix ?

I recently got back into it on my tablet with a controller since it comes with the Castlevania DLC. That game is always so good anytime I go back to it. I could play it for 10 hours straight,

 

[WeDislikeEich]

Start with Yakuza 0, then you can play any of them with a pretty solid foundation for the world/characters.

Yakuza 7 (Like a dragon) really doesn’t require you to play the previous Yakuza games. It’s a totally new story, new characters, etc. Not many ties to previous Yakuza games.

I would suggest playing some of the previous Yakuza games before playing the newest release (the man who erased his name). But for like a dragon I say just play it. It’s a great stand alone game in the Yakuza series.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I neglected to mention in my Final Fantasy binge that i was working on 7 remake as well. Finally finished it today and it almost felt like a tale of two games; the first half putting me to sleep and then the second half getting me engaged and really wanting to play more.

Gameplay took me a while to get used to. Like, a long while. The guts made sense (elemental weaknesses, combining materia for more optimal results, etc) but the actual physical combat took me a few chapters to fully grasp. Maybe next time read the description of your ability, idiot. Took a while to repair the disconnect between my brain wanting to play this like a hack n slash/beat em up ala Yakuza/DMC and playing it like an RPG where no, you can't dodge everything and have to use your head.

The story grew on me like a tumor. First half of the game was so god damn slow (guess this is what happens when you take a 35 hour RPG and stretch it into 3 games) to the point i couldn't give two shits about any of the characters. Tifa is a basket case, Cloud is a whiny simp for a woman he met literal hours ago, Arieth is an overly annoying waste of space and i think her introduction being so dragged out in chapter 8 only exasperated these feelings.

But then something weird happened. I got to chapter 9 and suddenly, things started to come together. Arieth being overly chipper/positive turns into an actually likable character with a hint of sass when people start shit talking her. Cloud goes from overly edgy douche to an edgy, smartass type ally to the rest of the crew, Barret even warms up to him and becomes a legit friend like Tifa is. After chapter 9 it felt like the story actually started.

Great experience and now i can say i actually really want to play Rebirth while at the same time mulling over if i want to chase down the secret bosses.

Also i noticed something watching other stuff about the game on youtube. When you finally face off with Sepiroth, in my game Tifa came to my aid first, then Barret to fill out the party for the last part of the fight. The person playing got Arieth and then Tifa. Arieth would have helped a ton in my first attempt since i came within an edge of beating him but had all of my good elemental/healing materia on her so i had to trudge through the parts where he changes element.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Yakuza 7 (Like a dragon) really doesn’t require you to play the previous Yakuza games. It’s a totally new story, new characters, etc. Not many ties to previous Yakuza games.

I would suggest playing some of the previous Yakuza games before playing the newest release (the man who erased his name). But for like a dragon I say just play it. It’s a great stand alone game in the Yakuza series.

Was The Man Who Erased His Name a return to the old style of the Yakuza games or was it a continuation of the Like a Dragon style?